Hebburn Christmas light display raises almost £500 for Epinay School

A Hebburn family who held a Christmas light display at their home in Glenmoor have raised £443 for Epinay School in South Shields.

Katie and Nathan Groom adopted two brothers aged four and six two years ago.

Both children were in main stream school and once they moved in with Katie and Nathan and went to their new schools, it was quite apparent that the eldest was struggling. He was diagnosed with a learning disability along with autism and ADHD.

He received a place at Epinay School which caters for 4-18 year-olds with special educational and complex needs.

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To show their gratitude for all the school's support they staged a Christmas light display over the festive period to raise funds.

With support from another Hebburn family's light display a total of £443 was raised for the school.

Katie said: "We had a lot of neighbours bringing grandchildren round to see the lights and have photos taken with the inflatables.

"We were also mentioned by strangers on Facebook who had seen it and telling others to go and have a look. The projector in the window was definitely a winner. 

"We have already purchased more to go up next year so should be even bigger. 

Chris Rue, Headteacher at Epinay School said: "More and more families are now supporting us by fundraising, this could be running the Great North Run, attending coffee mornings or holding fundraising events at home.

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"Other parents are supporting by donating raffle and tombola prizes, toys and books for children and nearly new uniforms for other families. They really are a very special set of parents and carers!

"The pictures from staff and families who attended are amazing, we've thanked Katie already for such generosity, and again we'd like to say a huge thankyou, we'll make sure that the children will benefit from this, we've already asked them about ideas on what the funds could be spent on.

"This was such a creative and fun way to raise funds, we hope to continue our fundraising efforts throughout 2024 and beyond so that children at Epinay continue to thrive."

Epinay School is currently looking for local companies and organisations for sponsorship regarding a brand new exciting project.

If you'd like to know more about this please get in touch with the school on [email protected]